Berlin attack suspect shot dead by Italian police

BERLIN, December 23, 2016

Anis Amri, a 24-year-old Tunisian man suspected of carrying out a deadly attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, was killed by the police in a shootout near Milan on Friday, according to Italian officials.

The police shootout outside Milan around 3 a.m. Friday, ended a brief but intense manhunt for the terror suspect across Europe, reported New York Times, citing Italian officials.

Stopped in the suburb of Sesto San Giovanni, north of central Milan, Amri was asked to show identification papers, Italian officials said.

He pulled out a pistol and shot the officer who had asked for the papers. A second officer then opened fire, killing Amri.

“There is absolutely no doubt that the person who was killed was Anis Amri, the suspect in the terrorist attack in Berlin.”

Law enforcement authorities had issued a Europe-wide warrant on Wednesday for Amri who moved to Italy in 2011 and then relocated to Germany in 2015.

How one of the most wanted men in Europe was able to travel seemingly freely after an attack that left at least 12 people dead will no doubt be a crucial question for investigators, stated the report.

The Islamic State, which had called Amri “a soldier” who “carried out the attack in response to calls for targeting citizens of the Crusader coalition,” released a video on Friday that Amri had recorded, in which he proclaimed loyalty to the group’s leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and declared that he was avenging coalition airstrikes that have killed civilians, it added.